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 "Apes" collected $36 million in domestic ticket sales from
Friday through Sunday, according to estimates from Rentrak, only
the second summer film to top the box office for two consecutive
weekends. Low-budget horror film "The Purge: Anarchy" finished
in second place with $28.4 million.
Another new big release, Walt Disney Co's animated "Planes: Fire
and Rescue," grabbed third place with $18 million, while the
comedy "Sex Tape" took in $15 million for the No. 4 spot.
"Apes," a sequel to the 2011 franchise reboot "Rise of the
Planet of the Apes," has rung up some $242 million worldwide
since its July 11 debut, according to distributor 20th Century
Fox, a unit of Twenty-First Century Fox. The movie stars Andy
Serkis as Caesar, a brainy ape who leads the interactions with
humans in the battle for dominance.
"The Purge: Anarchy," a follow-up to 2013 summer hit "The
Purge," tells the story of a couple whose car breaks down at the
start of an annual purge, a 12-hour period in which crime is
legal. Produced for $9 million, it ranks as another successful,
inexpensive movie produced by horror filmmaker Jason Blum.
"This is going to be a super-profitable film for the studio,"
said Nikki Rocco, president for domestic distribution at
Universal Pictures, the Comcast Corp unit that released the
film.
Noting that "the market has been depressed for these kinds of
films," Rocco added that the solid $28 million opening "was
better than we would have hoped for."
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The $50 million "Planes: Fire and Rescue," another sequel, features
the voice of U.S. comedian and actor Dane Cook as a crop dusting
plane that joins forces with a team of rescue vehicles to fight a
wildfire, and follows last summer's "Planes," a spinoff of Disney's
blockbuster "Cars" films.
"Sex Tape" stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel as a married couple
who accidentally upload a racy video of themselves onto the
Internet. The movie cost about $40 million, according to Sony Corp's
movie studio, which distributed it.
"We hoped for a bit more domestically," said Rory Bruer, president
of worldwide distribution at Sony, referring to the opening.
"But at the end of the day we'll be profitable," he added, noting
that, internationally, the film looked to be doing business on par
with the earlier Diaz comedy hit, "Bad Teacher."
Rounding out the top five, the summer hit "Transformers: Age of
Extinction," starring Mark Wahlberg and a cast of form-changing
robots, grossed $10 million for a U.S. total of $227 million.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Chris Michaud; Editing by Andrew
Heavens and Paul Simao)
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